In media depicting characters in environments requiring protective helmets, such as space or underwater, those helmets will be equipped with lights that illuminate the wearer's face. If you did this in real life, the wearer would most likely find that all they can see is their face reflected in the glass.

A variation, seen in the few science-fiction media that make some attempt at scientific accuracy, is to avoid the lights, but also omit [[OneWayVisor the highly reflective metallic coating applied to the visors of real spacesuits.]] (It should be noted, though, that the reflective visors on real spacesuits are often retracted when not looking the direction of the Sun; [[http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-14/hires/iss014e09795.jpg case in point.]]) Such scenes would often require contrived lighting. Then again, "[[LightingTropes contrived lighting]]" has been a staple of filmmaking for ages.

[[AcceptableBreaksFromReality Of course, the reason for this is that the makers want us to see the faces of the actors filling those helmets.]] A lot of body language and emotional cues are carried through facial expressions and reactions, so it helps the audience to be able to see the people in question while they [[ChewingTheScenery chew the scenery]]. The same reasoning pops up in reverse in FacelessGoons, where faces are obscured in order to ''avoid'' humanising the characters.

Obviously, this is not a problem in literature, since there are no expensive actors or camera scenes involved at all.

This trope is probably related to the fact that pretty much all spacecraft are evenly illuminated from all sides, regardless of their distance from a star or the possibility of being shadowed by a planet or a bigger ship or whatever. Presumably they all have little lights attached to their outer hull for the same purpose as the helmet lights, though it isn't like there is any StealthInSpace anyway.

Another possible explanation that is sometimes covered is that the internal illumination is due to reflections from lit instrumentation or [[HeadsUpDisplay Heads-Up Displays]] that that are hidden from external view. In such cases, it is believable that the inside of the visor also has anti-reflective coatings.

Related to HelmetsAreHardlyHeroic.

To summarize: In space, nobody can see your face, unless precautions are taken.

----!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]* +95% averted in ''Manga/{{Planetes}}''. Spacesuits have faceplates with integrated {{HUD}}s, and are almost always lowered to protect against unfiltered sunlight and debris impacts. If you see a character's face in a spacesuit, it's a CloseupOnHead. People raise their faceplates only to identify themselves to each other - or so they can see each other's faces during [[RuleOfDrama dramatic arguments]]. * ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' plays this one straight pretty much all the time, though in one episode of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Gundam 00]]'', Setsuna turns his visor into a two-way mirror in order to hide his identity.* In the ShowWithinAShow of ''Anime/MillenniumActress'', the spacesuits have helmets without reflective coating, so the faces are nicely showing.* Exaggerated in ''Anime/MacrossDelta''. Apparently the [[HumanAliens Windermerean]] [[ThePsychoRangers Aerial Knights]] use hologram tech inside their cockpits specifically so their helmets will "disappear" and make it look like they aren't wearing any, otherwise their [[PrehensileHair runes]] wouldn't appear on screen. [[/folder]]

[[folder:ComicBooks]]* This isn't the best example, but it fits here better than anywhere else. In ''[[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Darklighter]]'', Biggs and the other Rebel pilots once have a mission involving dressing in Imperial flight suits, which have obscuring full-face helmets. The artist drew those helmets as having flip-up visors with clear face shields underneath, and even the creators of the comic admit in a footnote that the only reason for any of that was so the readers could see their faces.* Taken to an extreme with the ''Comicbook/{{Legion Of Super-Heroes}}''. Every Legionnaire has an invisible, skin tight suit that provides them with life support, worn over their normal costumes.* While not a ''space'' suit, ComicBook/IronMan's armor almost always inverts this by rarely showing Tony Stark's face from the outside. A relatively recent solution (taken from [[Film/IronMan the films]]) to allow emoting is a sort of 'virtual' display of him hovering in a dark space dotted with computer screens, meant to represent his version of a {{HUD}}.** When Tony first switched from the Gold Plated Battle Tank Armor to the classic red-and-gold skin-tight model in TheSixties, his lengthy introduction to the new suit specifically noted that he's made the eye-holes and mouth-slits bigger so his adversaries could see his expressions. In TheSeventies, everything narrowed to featureless slits again ... but there was a tendency for artists to draw the solid metal "shellhead" faceplate as an ExpressiveMask.* In ''[[Franchise/{{Tintin}} Explorers on the Moon]]'', the faces of the spacemen can always be seen through their multiplex helmets, even when floating in outer space or walking through a dark cave on the Moon.* Subverted in ''Comicbook/JudgeDredd''. Any time Dredd wears a spacesuit, hazmat suit or PoweredArmour, that is usually transparent.......except he still wears his regular helmet underneath.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]* ''Film/TwelveToTheMoon'' tries to get round this trope with a ForcefieldDoor that is allegedly covering the astronauts open-face helmets.-->'''Astronaut:''' I am now turning on my invisible electromagnetic rayscreen...\\'''[[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]]:''' Even I don't buy it.\\'''Astronaut:''' ...which forms a protective shield over our faces...\\'''[=MST3K=]:''' [[SarcasmMode Of course it does.]]* Averted in ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' during Dave Bowman's spacewalk. His face is briefly illuminated by sunlight, until he adjusts the polarization of his helmet visor.%%* ''Film/TheAbyss''.%%* ''Film/{{Alien}}''.%%* ''Film/{{Armageddon}}''.%%* ''Film/TheCore''.* Averted in ''Film/DeepImpact'', as the astronauts worked on the dark side of the comet their face shields were open, only closing them as the Sun approached the horizon. This scene also attempts to portray the effects of failing to use face shields as one astronaut fails to close his shield in time. The exposure of only a few seconds results in immediate permanent blindness and severe sun burn. Unfortunately this is a case of SpaceDoesNotWorkThatWay; solar radiation in space at that distance is only about 20% stronger than in the desert at Earth's surface, and space suit helmets block both IR and UV, eliminating the major sources of heat burns and sunburn from solar radiation, respectively.* The lights are averted in ''Film/DestinationMoon'' (1950), leaving the actors' faces partly in shadow (to help tell them apart they wear coloured spacesuits). No reflective helmet visors, though, as the movie was made even before Sputnik, it's forgivable.* ''Film/DoomsdayMachine'', a film featured on ''WebVideo/CinematicTitanic'', actually averts this trope in the end, where the two astronauts who board the Russian spacecraft have black, reflective visors on their helmets. Unfortunately, this was mostly an attempt to (not particularly successfully) cover up the fact that the last part of the movie was filmed with different actors and different sets due to budget constraints.* ''Film/EventHorizon'' -- as every ship appears to have different models of space suits, both straight and averted [[spoiler: in the case of the aversion, to allow a horrifying DreamSequence Reveal as someone flips up a visor.]]* In ''Film/FrauImMond'' (''The Woman in the Moon''), the 1929 silent sci-fi movie by Fritz Lang, the explorers actually walk round without spacesuits, despite the high degree of technical accuracy (for the time) of the rest of the film. Although it was known the Moon has no atmosphere, silent film actors depended greatly on facial expressions and body language, which would have been obscured by bulky spacesuits and helmets.* In ''Film/Godzilla2014'', Ishiro Serizawa is wearing a chemical suit with lights that illuminate his face when he discovers the Godzilla skeleton in the cave.* In ''Film/{{Gravity}}'', the least realistic aspect of an otherwise [[ShownTheirWork thoroughly researched]] movie is probably this trope--it's so you can get a good look at stars Creator/SandraBullock and Creator/GeorgeClooney. * In ''Film/{{Interstellar}}'', all crew's visors are transparent with no protective coating.* Averted in the ''Film/IronMan'' films. Tony's face is completely obscured in the suit. The film has to cut to interior shots of the helmet to see Tony's expressions.** Justified as well -- the light emitted by his HUD provides just enough to see his face by in the extreme closeups.* The Kryptonian spacesuits seen in Zod's flashback in ''Film/ManOfSteel'' are equipped with in-helmet lights to keep everybody's faces visable.* In ''Film/TheMartian'', all the EVA suits have broad visors and face-floodlights.* ''Film/{{Outland}}'' Helmets have a whole ring of lights round the visor, used in one case for a a dramatic reveal of TheMole when their lights are suddenly switched on.* ''Film/Passengers2016'': Jim's helmet is lit up as usual so that the audience can view his face while he goes on a space walk.* In ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'', the ship's crew all wear clear domed helmets with lights on them.* Non-space example, but in ''Film/RepoTheGeneticOpera'' the Repo Man's helmet has blue lights. Head mentions on the DVD that he couldn't see past them.** But that they look REALLY cool.* Earthbound example: In ''Film/TheSignal2014'', Damon wears a hazmat suit with lighting inside the helmet. * Lights are included in otherwise bog-standard NASA spacesuits in ''Film/SpaceCowboys''.%%* ''Film/{{Sphere}}''.* ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'' features space suits with nifty [[HeadsUpDisplay heads-up displays]] in the helmets, and face-illuminating lights within that would seem to interfere with the visibility of those displays.** The Star Trek films often have this, on the few occasions when the crew goes out in space suits, such as Spock's thruster-suit in StarTrekTheMotionPicture or the team of Picard, Worf, and Lt. Hawk in StarTrekFirstContact, including the view of Lt. Hawk's fully [[YouWillBeAssimilated Borgified face]]. * Averted in ''Film/{{Sunshine}}'' where the suits have only a narrow viewing slit (because they have to operate [[BlindedByTheLight close to the Sun]]) but substituting claustrophobic shots of the actors from within the bulky helmets.* In ''Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon'', the astronauts on the 1969 Moon landing have their iconic reflective visors at first, but while examining the crashed Ark up close, actually slide them up to reveal face-illuminating lights inside their fishbowl helmets. [[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]* Averted in the early SpaceOpera where spacemen and women would wear bubble-top helmets, especially on the covers of lurid pulp magazines where you wanted to show the straight-jawed hero and his redheaded female companion to advantage.* ''Literature/Discworld'': In ''Discworld/TheLastHero'', the {{Steampunk}} spacesuit worn by Leonard of Quirm is specifically designed with a transparent bubble-helmet. In this case, it's because Leonard wanted to be able to see ''out'' of it as easily as possible.* Referenced in Creator/LarryNiven's ''Literature/KnownSpace'' setting; because their faces can't be seen in their helmets, the setting's asteroid miners paint their individual spacesuits with bright, distinctive and elaborate patterns.* The Toralii boarders in ''{{Literature/Lacuna}}'' have opaque visors, but one raises it to gloat to a wounded, fallen Captain Liao. [[spoiler: That proves to be his undoing.]]* Averted in ''Literature/TheMartian''. It's mentioned when Watney is gonna get his picture taken that his face wouldn't be visible through his helmet. Played straight in [[Film/TheMartian the movie]], though.* Averted, very nearly disastrously, in ''Literature/TheMoteInGodsEye''. Aliens in a spacesuit use a severed head in a helmet to slip past guards; the deception is only revealed when a momentary angle of sunlight reveals the aliens peering out the helmet--having moved the head out of the way to be able to navigate. Having those lights to identify your astronauts sure would have helped spot the dead guy...* Avoided in Peter Hamilton's ''Literature/NightsDawnTrilogy'', in which the spacesuits don't even ''have'' helmets. The spacesuits are a nondescript black silicon film that completely covers the user from a device worn around the neck. All sensors used for "seeing" the environment are contained in said device and they interface directly with implants in the user's brain. With the suits that ''do'' have helmets, the point is made that no-one can see into the suit to tell who it is inside--although that is from a distance.* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'':** Used in ''Literature/TheTruceAtBakura''. When Wedge is extravehicular, Luke can see his face through his faceplate. Wedge is not wearing a spacesuit, but his pilot suit and helmet as seen in the films, with a personal force field to keep a layer of air around him.** In ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear: Spore'' this trope is played straight enough that when a miner is found dead, everyone can see his expression of terror.* In Melinda Selmys' SteamPunk short story "The Virginal Seas of the Moon," the would-be astronauts have helmets with faceplates made of stained glass in their likenesses. Presumably this is because of [[FridgeLogic gaps in their technical expertise]].[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]* ''Series/{{Airwolf}}'' does something very similar with the crew's helmets, although it's not in space. They have open visors that can be sealed in case of pressure loss, but are normally open to allow the actor's eyes to be seen, though the helmets do cover the actors' lower faces.* ''Series/BabylonFive'':** In "Thirdspace", Captain Sheridan's suit runs straight into this trope.** The same thing is done whenever people are shown wearing gas masks (which happens quite a bit, as they have to go into parts of the station with non-oxygen atmospheres every so often). [[WordOFGod JMS]] stated that he's well aware of how unrealistic this is, but he also knows that audiences want to see the actors faces.* Justified in ''Series/BattlestarGalactica1978''--it was the emitters of a force field that kept the pilot's air in. Played straight in [[Series/BattlestarGalactica2003 the reimagined series]] where the pilots wore much more practical helmets that nonetheless included lighting whose only purpose was to make actors' faces visible.* It has cropped up a couple of times on ''Series/DoctorWho''.** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E8TheImpossiblePlanet "The Impossible Planet"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E9TheSatanPit "The Satan Pit"]], the Tenth Doctor spends much of his screen-time gallivanting around a pit-and-cave-system wearing a pressure suit and helmet. The helmet features four tiny lights which are pointed directly at the corners of the Doctor's mouth and eyes. ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E8SilenceInTheLibrary "Silence in the Library"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E9ForestOfTheDead "Forest of the Dead"]] features helmets with blue lights shining into the face around the mouth area.*** But those lights can be turned on and off at will, so likely the point was to let you hold a conversation while wearing them.** Averted, however, in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E1TheImpossibleAstronaut "The Impossible Astronaut"]], presumably because it was important that the astronaut remain anonymous until TheReveal.** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E5Oxygen "Oxygen"]]: The spacesuit helmets have clear glass visors, although the Doctor, Bill and Nardole's encounter with an [[AnimatedArmour empty suit animated by its AI]] suggests it's possible to darken the visors. Although they have the usual lights inside, individual helmet forcefields are used to prevent the actors having to spend the entire episode inside a helmet. {{Handwave}}d as the forcefields not being substantial enough to withstand a total vacuum, so you only need them outside the space station.* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' didn't put the cast in spacesuits much, but when they did they had transparent visors but avoided the silly lights.* ''Series/{{Firefly}}''. The lights in the helmets are on even on when the crew is on the surface of [[spoiler:Miranda]] ''in broad daylight''. This could be explained by their needing to be able to see each other's faces in case the radios cut out. The reason they left the lights on planetside was because they're cheap suits, and the gloves can't work the switches to turn them off.* An Earthbound example in ''Series/{{Fringe}}'': the team sometimes wear full-coverage suits to protect against chemical and biological hazards. These have lights inside the helmets, so the audience can see who's who. * Averted in ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "Thanks For The Memory", though that's largely due to the fact that Craig Charles isn't in the spacesuit due to his wife giving birth on the day of the shoot.* Especially ridiculous in ''Series/SpaceAboveAndBeyond'' as the lighted helmet interior would have proved a wonderful aiming point for chig soldiers when fighting in the dark.* ''Series/SpaceOdysseyVoyageToThePlanets'' has the no-lights-but-no-reflective-visor look going on.* ''Series/StargateSG1'' and ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' have had this, though rarely.* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' doesn't use space suits much, but when they do, they follow the trope (see the image above).* ''Series/TheExpanse'' does this as well. Even the Martian helmets in season 1 that block most of the face have this trait, with the eyes lighting up. Though it does give them a more [[GasMaskMooks sinister look]], which actually [[ArmiesAreEvil fits quite nicely]]. In season 2, when main characters wear Martian armor, it follows this trait exactly. [[/folder]]

[[folder:Pinball]]* Averted with Creator/SegaPinball's ''Pinball/{{Apollo 13}}'' game; the astronaut prominently featured on the backglass has his face entirely covered by the visor of his helmet. Done out of necessity because Creator/TomHanks's likeness was not available.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]* In ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'' it goes with the territory of everyone wearing fishbowl helmets. There's a good chance that if your face isn't visible, you're just a FacelessGoons and you should probably change professions.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Toys]]* A vast majority of Toys/LEGOSpace minifigures have transparent visors, to the point where the Toys/ClassicLEGOSpace minifigures simply [[ExaggeratedTrope don't have visors at all]]; appropriately enough, this trope is averted primarily with sets which intend to portray space travel as it stands today, where the minifigures accordingly have opaque visors.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Videogames]]* Thoroughly averted in ''Franchise/DeadSpace''. None of the available suit helmets have face openings, presumably presenting the world to Isaac via AR screen--which would also nicely explain the massive amount of HardLight interfaces.** Further, most helmet fronts don't even look like a face, consisting instead of a green light layer upon which armour plates are mounted in various patterns. In any other game, the helmet would mark its wearer as a perfect {{Faceless Goon|s}} to be slain guilt-free.** ''VideoGame/DeadSpace2'' has a CollapsibleHelmet for when Isaac needs to talk to people.* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'': It's on and off here. The 2D games (''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' and ''VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission'' in particular) will show Samus's eyes behind her green visor. When it went to 3D with the ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy'' Samus's face was completely obscured.** The camera in the ''Prime'' series is mostly first person, so you do get to see her face reflected off the visor whenever there is [[StuffBlowingUp something bright nearby.]]** ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'' also has Samus's face reflected on the helmet's visor while using the [[EnemyScan Scan Visor]].** The introduction to ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' has Samus typing up the events of previous Metroid games. You can see her face on the computer monitor.** Explained in ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM''. The visor has a device that switches it between transparent and opaque.* Avoided in ''VideoGame/StarCraft''... somewhat. In the videos, you can't see someone's face when the reflective plating is down, they lift it up to have conversations. (Although they inexplicably keep it down for no reason most of the time, even if they're fighting on a very dark planet where a reflection can give them away.) Inside the game itself though, the plating is almost always up. Because you might forget which unit is selected even though the name and a miniature is next to the portrait... or something. Obviously this only applies to Terrans as the other races can happily frolic in space... somehow. And even only some of those, others have weird masks or HumongousMecha.* Mostly averted in ''VideoGame/MassEffect1''. The human characters (and the alien Liara, who wears human-style armor) add a largely opaque facemask to their helmets when in inhospitable conditions. However they all include a transparent eye slit, and the area visible through that is well lit, thus their functionality remains debatable. The aliens Garrus and Wrex have only one helmet design per armor, all of which are face-concealing. The alien Tali is always wearing an environment suit with a mostly-opaque visor, but if you look close you can see her eyes and a few lines of her face. The artist who designed the helmets for the game noted the difficulty in still having characters be expressive while they're basically wearing masks.** ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' the same design for the most part, but also includes several alternative bonus armors with full face visors that play it straight. It also has characters that forgo space suits entirely. Though some are justified and truth in television.** Although made possibly even worse by Liara, who now only wears a small transparent breather over her mouth leaving the rest of her head uncovered.** ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' has several armors that completely obscure the face, although there is a setting that removes the helmet during conversations. * Played straight in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'', where Rinoa's face can be fully and clearly seen through her space helmet as she floats around. But averted in the rest of the game where the helmets worn by other spacecrew/team members are opaque.* ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'' plays with this trope by giving the character spacesuit-things for the hostile atmosphere where the game takes place... but only unnamed Strike Team members (which includes you) wear their helmets' faceplate down all the time. Important characters (Gore, Zelenin, Jimenez) keep the faceplate up even when out in the field, protected from the environment only by the transparent visor underneath.* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':** To the disappointment of many fans, averted with Spartan John-117 and his MJOLNIR suit, designed to work in every condition, including vacuum. You can't EVER see his face through his faceplate, which is a golden 150% reflective one. ** On the other hand, the [[ItsRainingMen Orbital Drop Shock Troopers]] from ''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'' have visors that can be toggled to become transparent. However, they're 100% non-see-through during combat.** From ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' onward, Covenant Ranger units, who are trained and equipped for space combat, tend to wear helmets with translucent faceplates. That said, the ones in ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians'' are right on the border between this trope and OneWayVisor; you can kind of see the outlines of their heads through their visors if you squint hard enough.* The ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' series averts this trope, for the most part. At most one only saw the area immediately around the eyes of the pilots wearing the helmets, and it wasn't illuminated other than by the light in the cockpit (which just shifted the problem out of the helmet, but that's not this trope).* In ''X-Tension'' and ''X2 The Threat'', the first two ''VideoGame/{{X}}-Universe'' games to feature the possibility of getting out of a ship, the spacesuits have transparent helmets with a face visible under it (though not it is illuminated by the suit itself). But as said face is just a low-res render applied to a flat surface, it can look pretty UncannyValley. Averted from ''X3 Reunion'' onwards, where spacesuit helmets have opaque reflective visors.* Completely averted in ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward''. Whenever we see a character in [[spoiler:what turns out to be]] space suits [[spoiler:on the moon]], we can't see their face, or who the person in the suit is at all. Players and the character can only tell who's who thanks to the communication line between the suits. There's one scene in which one character is about to smash another over the head with a rock, both of whom are in space suits, and Sigma specifics that he can't tell who's who because of the suits.* In TheMovie of ''VideoGame/{{Tamagotchi}}'', Mametchi and Tanpopo's faces are clearly visible inside their spacesuits.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]] * Webcomic/CrimsonDark: It's used on Kari's space suit when she goes outside ''Wraith'' to investigate [[spoiler: ''Scar'''s]] wreckage. The writes notes this is unrealistic, but says it's necessary or else [[RuleOfDrama you'd be looking at nothing except blackness]].[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' had an air helmet that was a pink gooey bubble that turned invisible after forming around his head and pressurizing. It's also seen reappearing sporadically when damaged.* In ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'', personal environmental force fields allow the crew to explore planets without Earth-like atmospheres while wearing nothing but a uniform. This was likely [[LimitedAnimation so the animators wouldn't have to do much extra work on the characters]].* In ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'', Gear's face mask, while hiding his identity, allows the viewer to see his face. * Optimus Prime from ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' has an iconic faceplate that is indicative of his classic look even more than his semi-truck vehicle mode. Later incarnations have made the faceplate retractable so that he can actually emote and express himself, with "Prime Lips" being a mild controversy ([[TheyChangedItNowItSucks one of many]]) with the Film/TransformersFilmSeries. The truth is the retractable faceplate was introduced in ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', with other shows not even have it deployed at all, while the films made it into a dramatic "time for battle" moment that has influenced later shows (especially ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' and ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'').[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]* On occasion, the lighting conditions are such that this trope is played straight. 40 years after the first moonwalk, researchers noted and saved a few frames from a video in which Neil Armstrong's face was visible.[[/folder]]